The Radiance in the Hollow Abyss
by Chandramukhi
Summary: WishingDreamer5's Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion challenge. 50 moments into a world that shined in light and suffered through the darkness, and the story of its inhabitants.
1. Restoration

**Author's note: **So, here's me trying to write my own version of WishingDreamer5's Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion 50 themes challenge. I've always wanted to try one and hers seemed quite appealing. I love Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion's history (let's face it, it's the most interesting world in KH haha) and I'm really excited about it. When it comes to updates, I intend it to be_ at least_ weekly. I hope it'll be possible.

This scene is in KH2 but as you can see, I kind of changed it. That's just what popped up in my mind when I saw this particular theme. Enjoy. :)

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><p><em>The Radiance in the Hollow Abyss<em>

**01. Restoration**

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><p>"Meet the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee!" A small young black-haired girl in her late teens cheerfully shouted to Sora and his two companions, Donald and Goofy. Yuffie clearly did not loose her casual excitement, even after a whole year.<p>

Aerith and Cid happily greeted them. Squall – or Leon, as he liked to be called – merely shrugged as he huffed, "I knew it."

Sora tilted his head to one side, puzzled. "Knew what?"

A small smirk made its way on Leon's face. It was his way of showing he was happy to see the trio again. "A while back, everybody suddenly remembered you guys, all at the same time."

Sora hummed thoughtfully until it occurred to him… _Wait… _

Yuffie left him no time to object as she forced a card into his hand.

"They're presents for you," Aerith explained. "Leon thought you might like them."

He threw a look at it and turned it around. Sora saw his name on it along with a "title" and read it: "Hollow Bastion Committee Honorary Member." His lips curved into a smile as he glanced at Donald and Goofy happily as he muttered cheerfully, "Cool…"

"Membership cards!" Donald hopped excitedly.

Sora grinned at Leon. "Thanks!"

He glanced back at his membership card. It felt good to be back. Leon, Aerith, Cid and Yuffie… They had been by his side since his beginnings as a Keyblade wielder and had helped him through the trials he had had to face. He would always be grateful to them for it.

"But… what do you mean, _you suddenly remembered us_?"


	2. Flowers

**Author's note:** This Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden challenge belongs to WishingDreamer5.**  
><strong>Thanks: WishingDreamer5 and HawkRider for your reviews. :)

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><p><em>The Radiance in the Hollow Abyss<em>

**02. Flowers**

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><p>"Do not leave my side too far this time, my dear." A fairly old woman – whose wrinkled face was lit with gentleness – told a red-haired child. The latter obediently nodded before happily drifting off towards the beautiful garden as she sing sung. She then stopped in her tracks and smiled in awe of all this beauty facing her and stooped to pick some flowers.<p>

The brownish-red strands of her hair seemed lighter below the radiant sun. Her eyes were beautifully wide and clear as water. They say eyes mirror the soul and into hers, one could see the brightest soul and admire the purest of hearts.

"A pure heart… huh?" A male voice muttered in his breath before laughing in a sinister way. His voice was icy, cruel and almost inhuman, devoid of any feelings whatsoever. Hidden from view, he was watching the scene from afar, his golden eyes narrowed from boastful and arrogant pity – if he could feel any, looking down on the pathetic scene. His appearance was as dark as his heart. His deathly pale skin was an interesting contrast to his raven-black spiky hair and organic-looking body dark suit on which bloody red lines could be seen. The flowers, at his feet, had desperately faded and died in a silent and hopeless cry. It was the price to pay when you embodied emptiness and were the negativity that opposed life itself. As if it was not enough, he crushed them even more with his feet as he ruthlessly smirked at the sight of these once-beautiful fallen things. He chuckled once again as he put his dark-glassed helmet on, masked he felt even more powerful.

But he needed to leave, that little girl's light was too much for him to handle.

"_Disgusting_," he spat in a murderous hiss as he disappeared through a dark portal.


	3. Ninja

**DISCLAIMER:** (I always forget those) Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square-Enix & Disney. I just own this story, this Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden challenge belongs to WishingDreamer5.

**Author's note:** I am so so so disappointed with this one. You know, I already didn't like the fact that the first two chapters were so short (when the word limit is 600 words in the first place which allows to have bigger chapters), I had such an idea with this one in the first place that I was sure I'd be able to write 600 words. Indeed, I wrote so much that the whole drabble was around 800 words long in the end. And I tried to make it shorter without deleting much and it was impossible. There were supposed to be **four** characters in this one, and unfortunately I had to crop it in such a way that now there are only Yuffie and Squall in it (and that it is hardly 300-words long now! But I really couldn't do otherwise) I'm definitely writing a one-shot about this one because I liked the original idea. I liked the idea of those four characters interacting... Well, just let me go and cry in a corner meanwhile. T_T

Anyway - I liked writing about Yuffie as a child. I never played FF7 but I don't know, I have always liked her. And I have always imagined her being annoyed by Squall when they were younger, whereas now it's just the contrary. She is always with Squall at his own regret. XD Writing this, I noticed Squall's and Yuffie's age-gap is actually quite huge in KH. Well, enough babbling, I hope you will enjoy this chapter.

I want to thank WishingDreamer5 and HawkRider for their reviews. I appreciate them. :)

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><p><em>The Radiance in the Hollow Abyss<em>

**03. Ninja**

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><p>She cheerfully skated over the guardrails, jumped up and down on the stairs throughout whole Radiant Garden as she was shouting deathly war cries.<p>

"Great warrior Yuffie in action! Fiiiight!" She fiercely screamed in a high-pitched voice as she threw kicks into thin air, her clenched fists ready to beat anyone who would try and challenge her.

"Oh, _please!_" A boy – who seemed to be in his teens - slapped his forehead against his palm, exasperated, as he nonchalantly followed her.

The raven-haired child faced him, her eyes throwing daggers.

"Humph. You're no fun, Squall!" The 6-year-old girl whined. "Why are you following me, anyway?"

"Let me think… Maybe because I was asked to look after you today?" His tone was sarcastic. "It is not like I actually _want_ to."

"Yeah. Whatever." She huffed as she hopped away again, back into her senseless fighting against invisible opponents.

Squall rolled his eyes before reluctantly following her again. But she quickly outran him and the brown-haired boy noticed she was unfortunately not in sight anymore. He nervously looked around, hoping to see her jump out of nowhere before going quickly further in order to find her. He sighed in annoyance. This child was a mess, who knew what damage she could possibly do?

As the raven-haired child arrived in the marketplace, she halted and congratulated herself on her success. She had managed to get out of his sight.

She mischievously giggled, "Stupid Squall!" Whistling, she walked away in a more tranquil manner for a while. She could do her "ninja training" as much as she felt like it now.


	4. Baby

**DISCLAIMER:** Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square-Enix & Disney. I just own this story, this Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden challenge belongs to WishingDreamer5.

**Author's note:** Thanks WishingDreamer5,HawkRider and MonMonCandie for your reviews. :D

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><p><em>The Radiance in the Hollow Abyss<em>

**04. Baby**

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><p>When the elegant duck had held him out tickets to some world called Disney Town and advised him to take two grown-ups with him, Ventus pouted. What was it with everyone treating him like a baby?<p>

He felt even more annoyed when he gave them to Terra and Aqua.

"He said to take two grown-ups," he had reluctantly admitted to them, frowning.

His two companions had laughed whole-heartedly as he had looked away. Nonetheless he remembered this moment fondly now, sitting near beautiful flowers which showed the city of light was a giant and magnificent garden. They had been three friends happy to see one another again, even though it all went wrong after that.

"Go home, Ven." Aqua had advised him one last time before summoning her armour and disappearing through a portal on her glider. Leaving him behind. Just like Terra did.

As his fingers playfully waved the wooden Keyblade on which Terra's name was engraved, Ventus pondered: maybe he still was a baby but…

He did _not_ want to heed Aqua's words. He might still be a child, he might be younger than his friends but it did not mean he was not able to do anything for them. He still remembered the Masked boy's words and he promised himself not to let such a thing happen to Terra. He was strong and had a good heart. Ventus trusted him. But he felt he could help if he accompanied them. If only they would listen to him…


	5. Eyes

**DISCLAIMER:** Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square-Enix & Disney. I just own this story, this Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden challenge belongs to WishingDreamer5.

**Author's note:** Thanks WishingDreamer5 and HawkRider for your reviews. :D

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><p><em>The Radiance in the Hollow Abyss<em>

**05. Eyes**

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><p>"I am goin' to kill this old man," he mentally growled as he faced his reflection on the mirror.<p>

His fingers slowly went over his jagged scar on his left cheek which extended to just under his left eye. His other hand was hiding his right eye with a stained cloth. To his relief, it had stopped bleeding a long time ago, but it had been damaged forever. He uncovered his right eye, the sight he had of him right now was definitely not lovely. He was disfigured, his eyes forever mismatched. Instead of his right orb, only a dot of gold could be seen below the heap of burnt flesh. He shuddered, repulsed from this sight.

"And this Terra too…" He added, aloud this time.

It was not supposed to end this way. The deal had been to release Terra's darkness, not to get his right eye ripped and his face scarred forever, he mulled over as he eventually covered his damaged eye with a dark eyepatch. A sigh left him. Maybe he did not know what he had signed up for. He just hoped all this was worth it and that this Xehanort knew what he was doing. So far, he did not like the consequences… at all.

Nevertheless, he still hoped something could be done about his face. Somehow. Maybe he should just go and ask Even if there was a way to treat his face, even if the scientist usually annoyed him.

"What happened to you?" Dilan – a fellow Royal Guard – asked him when they met later, his black eyes narrowed at his scarred face.

"My part of the deal," Braig elusively answered, his intact golden eye winking at him.

Dilan's eyes widened in incomprehension, but the guard eventually shook his head.

"I don't think I wanna know. Anyway, it's your spell of duty," Dilan said, hardening his gaze. "Everybody thinks you are being lazy these days. It's time for you to do some work."

Braig huffed and walked away. The frustration could be seen burning in his left golden eye, with only this thought in mind: if all went according to plan, he would not even need this worthless job anymore…


	6. Mischief

**DISCLAIMER:** Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square-Enix & Disney. I just own this story, this Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden challenge belongs to WishingDreamer5.

**Author's note:** I fully assume the reference made to HP here. I guess I couldn't help it. Lea has always reminded me of the Weasley twins btw. :P I'm glad with this one because I finally managed to write a ficlet close to the word limit (which was what I have been trying to do since the beginning of this challenge). So yeah, I'm pleased (even if it's not perfect).

Anyway - I hope you'll like it. :)

Thanks: HawkRider for your review. :)**  
><strong>

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><p><em>The Radiance in the Hollow Abyss<em>

**06. Mischief**

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><p>The red-haired teen cautiously tiptoed towards the small entrance after making sure no Royal Guard was around. His blue-haired companion followed and threw him a questioning glance when they realised the door was locked. However, that did not put his friend down.<p>

"Wait a sec," Lea said, feverishly looking for something in his pockets before shooting him an excited smile. "Tadaaa!" He exclaimed as he showed him a hairpin.

"That is one _old_ trick," Isa huffed, smirking.

"An _effective_ trick, nonetheless!"

Lea then shoved the hairpin into the keyhole, his face showing a focused expression. After few seconds that seemed an eternity to the both of them, they eventually heard a click.

"Mischief managed!" Lea grinned in a victorious way before pushing the door open. His blue-haired friend raised an eyebrow at him. "What? We should have a victory credo, don't you think?"

Isa rolled his eyes.

"Except that we have only sneaked in so far," he huffed. "No need to feel so victorious already."

"There is every need to be." Lea protested, shocked by his friend's pessimism. "We are achieving step by step my glorious plan and… Hey! Wait for me!" But Isa was already walking forward, used to his friend's antics. Even if he did not look like it, the blue-haired teen was almost as eager as Lea to check if the rumours were true.

For some time, word had been spreading through whole Radiant Garden that Ansem's scientists were conducting experiments about a new (and big) discovery. Although those rumours worried people, they had rather aroused curiosity in Lea's and Isa's minds. The red-haired teen had even _officially_ proclaimed it was reason enough to put into action the plan of sneaking in Radiant Garden's castle – quite to Isa's dismay.

"Where do you think it is?" Isa asked in a whisper as they arrived in an empty corridor.

"I've heard it was in the lowest floor," Lea replied. "I wonder what those experiments are about…"

Unfortunately, they quickly noticed this castle possessed many empty corridors; they had been wandering around for quite some time before eventually finding a staircase whose dark and uninviting alleyway did _not_ appeal to Lea.

"Well, those are the only stairs we managed to find. Must probably be this way, if those labs are in the lowest floor," Isa mused, while Lea's mind raced to the beautiful idea of going back.

Noticing his friend's hesitant eyes, the blue-haired teen sighed in annoyance.

"It was YOUR idea of sneaking in here," he scolded, dangerously. "So we're definitely going to take a look!"

"I didn't complain!" Lea held up his hands in defeat but he soon found back his victorious and cheeky grin again, held up his fist and walked forward. "You're right. Let's go!"

"Where do you think you're going?"

Lea froze in his steps before slowly turning back.

"Oops," the spiky-haired boy eventually let out.

A man was standing behind them. The boys immediately recognized him as one of Ansem's scientists at the sight of the white lab coat he was wearing. He also had a long blond hair surrounding his displeased face whose green eyes were narrowed at them.

"Would you, young boys, care to enlighten me the reason of your presence here?" His voice was sharp like ice, which made the boys' teeth grit.

Lea and Isa exchanged worried looks. They were busted. Their silence annoyed the man even more.

"I see…" He eventually muttered, not surprised at all. "Guards!"

Next thing they knew was that two Royal guards were unceremoniously showing them the way out – despite Lea's noisy protests.


	7. Cry

**Note: **It's been so so long I haven't updated this story. And for this, I wanted to apologize. Life has truly been hectic for me and after a while, I had lost inspiration. But I decided to resume it recently because I am really determined to finish this challenge and I really missed writing KH fanfic. I'm not particularly glad about this chapter, especially the way it is written but I managed to write exactly 600 words (hooray!). I think the lack of details, due to word limit, makes it a bit unrealistic but I still hope you'll like it.

This is part of WishingDreamer5's Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden Challenge.

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><p><strong>07. Cry<strong>

The dark shadows. They frightened her. She could hear people screaming and crying for help. Her fear increased. She could not see their faces; everything seemed so foggy.

She needed to find him. She needed to go on.

"Squall!" The black-haired teen called out to a brown-haired boy, relief lit on his face as she came closer.

"Tifa. I'm so glad you are alright." The young boy usually had a stoic expression on his face but this time, panic could be easily read in his eyes. When he spoke again, it was in a hurried tone. "We need to get out of here. Cid asked us to join him in Merlin's house. Come on!"

He did not leave her time to protest and quickly grabbed her hand.

"What's happening?" She asked as they were running amidst a scene of Radiant Garden in sheer chaos.

"Shadows," Squall eventually answered as soon as all this running allowed him to breath. "Making people disappear. Cid knows more."

"Come in quick," Merlin said as they reached his house. "The heartless will be coming soon and I am not sure my protection spells would ward them off very long. We need to prepare and leave as soon as we can."

"Leave?" Tifa said fearfully. "Why?"

"Cid will explain."

When they opened the door, a nervous Cid greeted them. Yuffie, Aerith and a duck Tifa did not know were also in the main room. The sight of Yuffie broke Tifa's heart. Instead of her usual mischievousness, silent tears were rolling down the child's face.

"There you are, Leon!" Cid sighed with relief. "And you have found Tifa! Thank God!" Cid threw looks around the room as if to check that nobody was missing. That is when Tifa noticed the absence of the person she had been looking for. "We need to act quickly. We don't hav-"

"Where is Cloud?" Tifa asked.

"I am going to look for him in a minute." Cid quickly replied but that did not appease the young Tifa.

"Why are we leaving?"

Yuffie's crying became louder. The child tried to speak through her tears: "I-I d-don't want t-to leave…"

Cid apologetically turned towards the child. "I know that, dearie. But we need to. This world will be destroyed, we cannot stay here."

The duck finally spoke. "Cid, please act quickly. I want to leave as soon as possible so decide right now who is leaving with me and who takes the other ship."

"I know that, Scrooge." Cid replied, annoyed. "OK. Yuffie, Leon and Tifa will leave with you. Aerith will stay here with Merlin until I come back with Cloud."

"Out of the question," Leon protested. "I'm not leaving first. I'm going to stay here till t-the end." His voice was shaking but his resolution was still the same. "I am going to look for Cloud and h-help you till the very end."

Cid looked at Leon for an instant and sighed. "All right, then Aerith will leave with them."

"I'm not leaving without Cloud!" Tifa cried out.

"No more discussion," Cid said, shaking his head. "You three are leaving with Scrooge. Now! The ship is behind the house. We will join you soon, I promise."

Cid and Leon left the house with them and accompanied them to the ship. They were boarding when Tifa caught a sight of Cloud. The door was already closed shut before she had the time to reach him and she could only cry out his name, her hands pounding on the glass and tears rolling down her face as the ship was leaving Radiant Garden.


	8. Pain in the

**Author's note:** So here is a new theme done. To be frank, thank God for the Hollow Bastion restoration committee. I truly think Leon/Cid/Yuffie/Aerith/etc makes this world's history the most interesting it can get because it really allows for different and diverse ideas and stories to be created and played out. And also, it never gets boring to write about it. Anyway - I hope you'll like this chapter. :)

This challenge belongs to WishingDreamer5.

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><p><em>The Radiance in the Hollow Abyss<em>

**8. Pain In the…**

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><p>A moan escaped from Yuffie's mouth as she slightly stirred in the bed and let her arms loose. From times to times, she could see Merlin throwing disapproving glances at her over the book he was reading. It was in his bed that she was lazily resting after all. She heard Aerith sighing in front of the computer screen Cid had been trying to make a sense of for days.<p>

The sound of the door entry opening broke her off her daydreaming. It was only a matter of seconds before the sight of a disapproving Squall, his hands on his hips, appeared before her.

"Yuffie, don't you have anything to do?"

The girl moaned some more. "Oh come on, Squall! There are hardly any Heartless lately. I can afford some rest."

"It's Leon," Squall replied, moodiness apparent in his voice. "And there is still some work to do." He handed Yuffie her weapon. "Do some rounds, please?"

His use of please was so surprising that Yuffie looked at him and started analysing him. He seemed exhausted. Some kind of deep sadness was apparent in his eyes. She suddenly felt guilt rushing through her heart.

"Gosh! Such a bore!" she exclaimed as she got up and took her weapon. The guilt could not ward off her usual cheeky self though. "But I will handle it. Do take some rest."

Leon silently mouthed a thank you as the girl went towards the door and left Merlin's house. He walked to the side of Aerith and Cid, the latter seemed exasperated.

"Everything all right?"

Aerith opened her mouth to reply but the blond man was quicker and shot a loud and mere "NO!" at Squall. The brunet could hardly blame him. They were working so hard to make Hollow Bastion an inhabitable place again but these days, all their efforts seemed to amount to nothing. Some places of the Bastion were still inaccessible and these were sources of growing concern for Léon who wondered what they would find behind their doors.

"We really need access to these rooms," Leon sighed.

"I know that!" Cid growled. His fingers were frantically typing on the keyboard, its robotic sounds breaking the heavy silence.

Aerith put a hand on Cid's shoulder in order to appease him and looked at Leon: "Do you really think it is that important?"

The brunet nodded. "Who knows what those rooms contain? If it's anything to be worried of, we should get access to those places as soon as possible and get rid of any threat. Let it go and it might blast in our faces. I do not want to find ourselves again facing Heartless coming from this place, just like last time."

He suddenly found it hard to explain further and realized how his words brought the remembrance of unpleasant memories to all of them. That made him even more determined to fulfil his promise. He would not let anything happen to his world again.

Cid eventually broke the silence.

"This is such a pain in the…"


	9. Happiness

**Note:** This Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden challenge belongs to WishingDreamer5.

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><p><em>The Radiance in the Hollow Abyss<em>

**9. Happiness**

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><p>He found her in the library, smiling and deeply focused in some book, probably a novel as he knew she particularly loved those. He considered leaving the piece as he did not wish to disturb her. But the human beneath the beast momentarily forgot what loud noises paws could make. Belle looked up as she noticed his presence and walked towards him. They silently stared and smiled at each other for a few instants to wallow in the happiness of finding each other again. She was the first one to break the silence.<p>

"Thank you."

With those words, he remembered all the distance and ordeals he went through and how he would go through them once more if she ever left his side again. He was aware that a wider smile would probably look hideous on his beastly face but his grin widened nonetheless.

Their attempts at casual conversation were probably feeble but they both knew none of the words they could say would properly describe the amount of conflicting and deep feelings shooting through their hearts at that instant.

"I know that we will most definitely not have pleasant memories of this place but I find this odd castle to be most fascinating," Belle said eventually, looking around the room. "Hollow Bastion is the name, isn't it? I was looking for some information about its past," she said as she showed him the book she had been reading. Her eyes were vibrant with passion at that moment. "This place has probably seen better days with such a great library and whatnot."

There was a deep silence again until Belle slowly dropped her book on the desk and hugged one of his arms.

"I am so happy that you are here today. By my side."


	10. Promise

**Note: **I thought I'd never publish this. School made me very busy and I had a bit of hard time with this prompt. I must have re-written it at least 3 times, each time with different characters in mind haha. I finally settled on this idea, I'm not much happy about it especially because it isn't as developed as I wish it would be. But well.  
>For information, it's happening in a speculative KH3 timeline. I finally wanted to write something with my favourite KH pairing. Sigh, I really wish it becomes canon in KH3 but I'm not going to put much of my hope into it, I don't want to be disappointed. Anyway, enjoy!<p>

This challenge belongs to WishingDreamer5.

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><p><em>The Radiance in the Hollow Abyss<em>

**10. Promise**

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><p>From the cliff, he could see the whole vale, unwelcoming and lifeless. The beautiful castle was now a monstrous bastion towering above the whole valley. Unrecognizable. The pipes gave the once beautiful castle a warped look that made his head spin the longer he stared at it. Much had changed in a decade. Was it really the place once called the City of Light?<p>

"Terra?"

He turned over to see who called his name and was greeted by the sight of Aqua.

"I was wondering what took you so long. I was worried," she said as she walked over to his side.

He could not help but rolling his eyes. It seemed like people did not trust him roaming around without being closely watched. But it hurt seeing Aqua being suspicious about him.

"I was just taking a walk. I needed some fresh air."

She hummed as a sign of understanding. Her appearance had hardly changed over the course of the last decade, probably due to the strange system of time in the Dark Realm. He also did not look much older and much different than he used to except for the longer hair. They stood next to each other silently which quickly made him uncomfortable.

"That's amazing how much this place has changed."

"I know," Aqua said, with a laugh. "I could not believe this was Radiant Garden either at first."

A pang of guilt rushed through his heart.

"That was my doing."

"No it wasn't," Aqua stated with a firm voice.

"Then whose was it?"

"Xehanort's."

"_Please!"_ he huffed, anger rising through him. "Nobody here believes that, especially you!"

Aqua started to lose her composure. "Are you saying I'm a liar?"

"What I'm saying is that you wouldn't be looking for me every time I happen to be alone", he growled, exasperated. "What do you fear will happen, Aqua? Do you think I'm still so weak that I'll fall in the same trap again? That I'll hurt and kill other people?"

Aqua would just shake her head which did nothing to whisk all the confusion, guilt and anger he felt away.

"No!"

"THEN WHAT IS IT?"

The late realization that he was shouting at her made him close his eyes momentarily to avoid her gaze. When he dared to look at her again, she was shaking and he could see tears in her eyes.

"Aqua, I'm sorry. I di-" He started but she hushed him and handed him a star-shaped necklace, his wayfinder. The promise that whatever happens, they shall find their path to each other again.

"I'm here because I care about you," a tear silently fell down her cheek but her voice remained firm. "Ever since you've come back, you are so distant. And I know that's because some things are bothering you. I don't want to make the same mistake I did ten years ago."

"You made no mistake, Aqua."

"I misjudged you, I accused you of things you didn't do. If only I had listened to how you felt then maybe… maybe…"

He stepped closer to her as his thumb wiped away another tear falling down her face and rested his forehead on hers.

"Open up to me," she finally whispered as he wrapped one of his arms around her waist. "We promised to have each other's back, right?"

He gently brushed one of her bangs out of her eyes and smiled: "Right...". He gently kissed her forehead, the corner of her mouth then pressed his lips against hers.


	11. Yours

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kingdom Hearts. This challenge belongs to WishingDreamer5.

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><p><em>The Radiance in the Hollow Abyss<em>

**11. Yours**

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><p><em>"This keyblade is yours by right,"<em> Riku would keep hearing those words in his head, his heart swelled with jealousy.

"Do everything I tell you," Maleficent had once told him. "And victory will be _yours_. Kairi's heart will be found, I assure you."

And as she asked, he did. He travelled throughout worlds, collaborated with suspicious individuals and helped them achieve what they wanted no matter how much his conscience objected. After all, didn't the end justify the means? He would have done everything in his power for Kairi. And more and more power he did have. Soon, Maleficent even granted him the ability to command the Heartless.

"The power to command the Heartless is yours? Riku, don't you see?" Sora had warned him when they faced each other on Captain Hook's ship. "Sooner or later, they'll swallow your heart!"

_"Nothing is mine now,"_ he thought grimly. So much for his victory, trapped as he was in the darkness, his body conquered and controlled. Sora was right: darkness had consumed and swallowed him whole. He had lost everything: his heart, his body and even his friends. And here he was, his very body in a fight to the death against Sora who was resisting with all his might in order to keep this giant keyhole in Hollow Bastion locked. Soon he felt his body crumble and Ansem fortunately retreating for a while and that's when he realised that this fight was still his.

"Run!" He shouted at Donald, Goofy and Kairi as his mind managed to freeze Ansem for a while.

He would always possess the ability to choose right from wrong and his very choice and determination to protect his friends, no matter what the cost, was where true power lay.


	12. Loss

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kingdom Hearts. This challenge belongs to WishingDreamer5.

**Note:** I'm rather happy with this one. But I am aware that some sentences might sound a bit awkward, I still have a lot of issues with my writing in English (despite all the constant reading etc). I'll just keep practicing, eventually I'll improve haha. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter! :)

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><p><em>The Radiance in the Hollow Abyss<em>

**12. Loss**

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><p>Only his footsteps could be heard resonating against the floor of the castle chapel in the deafening silence. It was one of the few rooms that were reminiscent of what used to be Radiant Garden's glorious castle but even this grandiose room bore the marks of those past dark years. His tracks stopped at the sight of thorns decorating the floor: Maleficent had obviously wanted to leave her own personal mark, aside from the factory-like appearance the castle now had.<p>

A sigh escaped him. All this was… disheartening? During all those years in exile, he had expected his return home to be happier and more serene. Home meant a feeling of belonging and he only felt inadequacy in a world too much changed and hardly familiar to him now. The garden of his memories was now an arid and desolate place and his eyes would feverishly keep looking for any sign of beauty that used to characterize this world almost a decade ago. Ten years. The sense of loss was too great and overwhelming. That feeling would not disappear either when he walked around town later. More and more people were coming back and the town felt more inhabited and alive as time went by. Reconstruction went smoothly but even the new houses bore the marks of the desolation Radiant Garden went through: they looked like an assemblage of the old radiant memories, the desperate pursuit of the past and the reality of the present as if the dark times of this place wanted nothing but keep lingering around. He only could hope that those would soon be put behind.

The sight of a familiar figure squat on the ground broke him off his sad thoughts. Dressed in the usual pink, her braided hair moved when the wind blew too much which seemed to drift her off from whatever she was attending to. Peaked curiosity made him walk closer and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw what she was looking after. Those were… flowers? The blowing wind made Aerith look away from the flowers once more. Seeing him, she enthusiastically waved her hands to him. Cloud warmly smiled at her and at this small and lovely garden before walking off to her, this hopeful thought in mind: _"No, everything is not lost"_.


End file.
